Immigration Reform

Election Issues 2: Immigration
As Jews, we have experienced being the outsider. For centuries, we were not equals. We were not equals in the muslim world, where synagogues couldn’t be as high as mosques and we had to pay an extra dhimmi tax. We were not equals in Europe, where we were not full citizens, and in many locales could not own land. We were seen as the outsider, and treated terribly as a result. During the Nazi era, we were refused immigration to many European countries, severely limited in immigrating to America, and suffered dearly as a result.
Our situation here as comfortable citizens is the historic anomaly. We can vote, the government protects us from religious and physical persecution, we can own property without fear of sudden and arbitrary seizure. We can even hold office.
In Genesis, when Abraham and Sarah initially enter Israel, there is a famine, so they have to go to Egypt. As foreigners, with no relatives to protect them, they are afraid, so Abraham lies about who Sarah is, allowing her to be taken to pharoah’s house as a potential wife, and only god’s intervention helps them. They lie and humiliate themselves to protect themselves, in a country which is foreign and scary.
This is the story of the illegal immigrant, unprotected, a stranger in a strange land with no-one to protect them. They cannot rely on the police or family for protection. They merely do what they need to to survive. They have no recourse against those who take advantage of them, of their vulnerability, their isolation.
Even in Canaan, they are still immigrants. Abraham has no family, no social support in Canaan. When Sarah dies, Abraham has nowhere to bury her, and overpays for a cave.
We were the underpaid immigrants in Egypt, forced into backbreaking labor by a deeply suspicious leadership.
The Torah, especially Deuteronomy, speaks out passionately on this issue. Numbers 15:16 goes out of its way to say “there shall be one law for you and the stranger dwelling among you”—they are treated as an equal. Deuteronomy tells us to love the stranger, for you were strangers in Egypt. Do not oppress the stranger, who has no family or legal system to support them. The illegal immigrant is the ger the stranger of our time.
There is a halachic category of ger toshav is a person who either lives in Israel, or is just passing through, but agrees to follow the 7 noahide commandments while he is here. In other words, he will be law abiding, he will not introduce idolatry into Israel. The ger toshav is fully integrated into Israelite society. Surprisingly, the ger toshav can even participate in the Passover festival!
Leviticus 19:33-34 reads “If a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall do him no wrong. The stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as the home-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” Ibn Ezra on this verse states that the reason this is stated after the instruction to honor elders is that just as elders have no strength of their own, so too with the stranger, your strength is greater than his, for he is in your land, under your control. And it concludes with “I am your God” to say I am the God who created both of you
We are all incredibly lucky to be the ones here legally, not the ones working at subminimum wage in the fields, who would love to become citizens. Instead of looking at them as illegals who shouldn’t be here, Judaism teaches us to look at foreigners as vulnerable, and equals in God’s eyes. We have no more right to be here, in God’s eyes, than they do. There but for the grace of God.
In Food Inc., there was an interesting segment on the use of illegal immigrants in food production. Part of the reason food can be produced so cheaply is the use of illegal labor, often at minimum or sub-minimum wage. In many instances, instead of cracking down on the employers, law enforcement arrest and deport the workers, who then come back again. I remember a scene where law enforcement enter a trailer in early morning, deporting a worker from the factory. This person had done nothing wrong but enter the country illegally, and was entirely vulnerable to the border agents coming and taking them away. The sad thing is that the employer, who had set up this whole situation, and was not desperate for a job as was the migrant worker, was not being held accountable whatsoever.
Safety
Judaism is certainly concerned about possibility of foreigners entering for a military takeover. The reports/claims of Mexican drug cartels setting up outposts in Arizona is terrifying, and the claims about crime are confusing but concerning. In Dt 33:25, the Torah says “Iron and brass are your locks,” which rashi says refers to the fortified border towns. We certainly have a legitimate right to build a wall and have border patrol agents and drones, to prevent a military takeover. The shulchan aruch rules that we can violate Shabbat to repeal foreigners even if they appear to have peaceful intentions, because they may be attempting a takeover. (229:6)
The Meiri writes that
“You know how strictly the Torah makes us distance idol worshippers from our land, our borders, and our surroundings… this applies only to a non-Jew whome we do not know. But if he is our neighbor or friend, it is permissible…there is no doubt that we may be permissive to all who are from the nations disciplined in their lifestyle by religion and who believe in God…not only is it permissible, but it is proper.”
In other words, the proper thing to do, for someone who is an ethical person, is to allow them to immigrate. It is a different story if they are bringing in a criminal element—idolatry in Torah terms, or violent crime in today’s terms. To the extent that this is about violent criminals, then, there is certainly grounds to take action. In the case of non-violent migrants, Jewish tradition supports an open door for people who want to enter.
Economic Issue
The economic issue is often raised that illegal immigrants are taking away jobs from Americans. Of the 11 million illegals, 7.7 million have jobs, and from 2008-2010, 1 million jobs were gained by them, while jobs were lost by residents. Half of college graduates aren’t finding work. These are underpaid, difficult jobs which most Americans don’t want, but perhaps if we didn’t have illegal immigrants, that would force the wages to go up in those fields, and be a boon for low income workers. So the argument goes that we should seal the borders to protect our own economic interests.
Halacha does not support such an approach. In Baba Batra, R. Huna says in the name of R Joshua that residents of one town can prevent non-residents from setting up a competing store in their town—like walmarts coming in and replacing local businesses. But if he pays taxes—that is, he establishes himself there and contributes to the local wellbeing-then he can set up a competing business. R Asher, similarly, said people can dwell wherever they want and the people of the new city cannot stop him. Economic protectionism is not a halachically valid argument for limiting immigration.
Yes, we need to be concerned about our own first. We need to ensure that our own people have jobs. But when someone comes and is willing to pay taxes (as most illegal workers actually do), we cannot halachically force them to go back to the poor conditions they came from. We prioritize the poor of our own town over those of other towns, but if a new person moves in, we don’t force him to move back to where we came from. That would be middat sdom—the ways of sodom and gemorrah, being unwelcome and hostile to outsiders.
The fact that these jobs are driving down wages is really indicative of another halachically serious issue, which is the lack of a livable and enforced minimum wage. Given that halachically one supports the poor at a comfortable level, and the Talmud states that one’s employees should be like members of one’s household, it is reasonable that employers should pay their workers at a level at least the same as if they were giving tzedakah. Seven dollars an hour does not do that. You can be working full time and still in poverty. This isn’t just because illegal immigrants are diluting the workforce, it’s because we don’t have a real minimum wage, so nobody wants these jobs.
Xenophobia
The suspicion of immigrants, and the identification of illegal immigrants with violent crime, deeply concerns me. Why is this only an issue now? For one, because the immigration process has become so slow and onerous, and also because it has become easy to get here illegally. But also, I suspect that the current economic stress makes this an easy target. There are no jobs because Illegal immigrants have taken them all. Crime is because of those murderous Mexicans. And they are easy to suspect, because by definition they are all already criminals. To what extent are we blaming our social ills on a vulnerable, inherently suspicious group?
We have been illegal. We were persona non grata in Egypt, where the government was afraid we would take over the society. We were illegal immigrants in the desert on our way out of Egypt, and refused food and water, not even allowed to walk through. The three angels were illegal immigrants in Sodom, where a crazed crowd wanted to attack them for daring to enter their territory. We were illegal immigrants in Europe for centuries, culminating in Nazi Germany, when the government decided we didn’t belong in Germany or even on the face of the Earth. We know that strangers are vulnerable, unwanted. But we also know that they are fellow children of God, and we are commanded to take them in as our own.